


Like It's Only You And Me

by threeintelligentthoughts



Category: Harry Styles - Fandom
Genre: Childhood Friends, F/M, First Kiss, Friends to Lovers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-03
Updated: 2020-04-03
Packaged: 2021-03-01 06:09:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,780
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23466655
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/threeintelligentthoughts/pseuds/threeintelligentthoughts
Summary: A wholesome Harry x OC college AU where two best friends spend a weekend back home after spending months apart at different colleges.
Relationships: Harry Styles/Original Female Character(s)
Kudos: 6
Collections: Three Intelligent Thoughts- Quarantine Collection





	Like It's Only You And Me

Opening the door and seeing that familiar head of brown curls was a view that I had missed.

Even through FaceTime, I could see the excitement in his eyes when I told him I was planning on going home the same weekend he was going home. I hadn’t seen his face in so long. If he hadn't kept contact with me since we both moved for college, I probably wouldn't be at his doorstep right now. But he insisted that we hang out since it would probably be our only chance until the semester ends. 

"Harry." I sighed, just the sight of him taking my breath away.

Now, I'm not trying to say that Harry was unattractive before we graduated high school and left for college, but he looked so different nowadays that I actually couldn't believe that it was him.

"Mar!" Harry said loud enough for the whole neighborhood to hear. I giggled at his excitement as he engulfed me into a hug and spun me around, his looming size almost swallowing me.

It was so comforting to hear someone call me Mar for once. It was strange to hear professors, RAs, and even other students on campus call me Marley. It was nice to be back with the very person who made that nickname stick.

"You got me scared for a minute, Haz! I almost didn’t recognize you, you big lug!" I remarked, bringing up the old nickname that I used to give him. 

Harry scoffed, trying to sound offended.

"In a good way, Harry. Of course I mean a good way!" I teased, Harry’s fake expression dropping to reveal that smile that didn’t shine as bright over FaceTime. 

"Good to know. You ready to go?" Harry said, jingling his keys in front of me after locking the front door to his house.

"Of course." I answered, looking up at him with a grin on my face that was wide with excitement of spending my Friday night back with my best friend.

Even if we were just friends, Harry remained the gentleman he always was, opening the passenger door to his dark Range Rover for me.

"So, hopefully I made the right decision having you plan everything. Where to first?" I asked Harry, skeptically narrowing my eyes at him as I watched him settle in the driver’s seat.

"You'll see." Harry replied, his mouth pulling up to a smirk as he started the car, windows rolling down and the radio blasting, just like we always did.

As Harry drove out of his neighborhood, I stuck my arm out the window, feeling the breeze as Harry began to accelerate faster. As we drove through town, memories beginning to flood in as we cruised down the familiar road, it slowly started to feel like absolutely no time had passed since we last saw each other. 

~~~  
The car drive consisted of catching up on our lives. It was still weird to think that this was the first time where we weren’t directly a part of each other’s lives for an extended period of time.

If you were to ask me how long I had known Harry, the answer to that is pretty ambiguous. We’ve actually went to the same school since we were toddlers, and our school was small enough to the point where you knew every kid in your grade by first and last name. Harry and I didn’t become friends until high school.

After laughing with Harry after he recalled a funny incident involving a nighttime game of hide and seek on campus, which was brilliantly suggested by his roommate Niall. we both sighed. An uncomfortable silence shortly followed and almost seemed to loom over us.

I glanced at Harry. Even if he was practically a man now, I still saw him as the little boy who aggressively stuffed his cheeks with marshmallows in order to win the Chubby Bunny contest in the 3rd grade.

Harry's smile tugged on his mouth, indicating that I got caught staring at him. I looked away at him, my cheeks burning. I tried to sneak a small glance at him again, but this time he was looking at me, his grin signaling that I had been caught yet again.

"Look at the road, silly." I teased Harry, flustered at our little interaction.

"Mood killer."

My embarrassment turned to laughter. I could still feel Harry's gaze staring at me, even as I threw my head back as my laughter continued.

~~~

After getting some takeout from our favorite local Chinese restaurant (we especially bond over the fact that Chinese food is our go-to comfort food) and bringing it with us to eat in his car at the abandoned drive-in that was our go-to hangout spot, we were back at my place. We laid side by side on the trampoline in my backyard, laughing at some funny memories after my mom had embarrassingly pulled up old photos of Harry and I when we were still in the pivotal beginning stages of puberty.

"So, how are you and Liam doing?" Harry asked unexpectedly, the mood suddenly becoming more serious between the two of us after we were already on the topic of our past.

"Fine… I guess." I replied, uncomfortable with the entire concept of Liam being manifested after I had gone through so much effort to try and repress it.

I had dated Liam a few months before we graduated. We were in love, and I thought that our love would be able to withstand long distance. For the first couple of weeks, it did. But then it was like a switch had flipped, and suddenly we couldn't seem to keep a steady relationship. It was always back and forth between being so in love that not even distance could get in the way, to getting so mad at each other to the point where the distance made everything hurt twice as much.

I kept a lot of Liam and I’s issues to myself, so Harry has no idea. Another thing that he doesn't know is that Liam and I broke up for good two months ago. I like to think that I never told Harry about Liam and I falling out because I just wanted to forget about it happening altogether.

Normally, I was able to easily tell Harry about everything and anything. In high school, we spent so much time together. We were the duo that teachers and other students wished weren’t in their classes because they knew we would just sit in the back pulling shenanigans the entire time. We grew close enough to the point where we could still fill each other in on the parts of our lives that didn’t overlap, even when we got to college.

It was so easy to talk to him. He gave me great advice when I first started talking to Liam. The trouble was opening up to him about the ugly side of Liam and I’s relationship.

I was scared to open the wound back up again. There were no limits to the emotional spectrum that I felt when Liam and I finally decided to end things for good. Was I ready to revisit those feelings again with Harry and introduce a side to Liam and I’s relationship that he didn’t even know about?

~~~  
(Harry's POV)

Marley sat up all of a sudden, running her fingers through her hair. Oh no, this wasn’t good. She always stroked her hair like that whenever she was stressed.

"You okay, Mar?" I asked concernedly, sitting up as well.

As much as I hated to say it, I was still in love with Marley. I found myself missing all the things we did together, before we ended up packing our entire lives into boxes and going to colleges on opposite ends of the state.

You’re probably wondering, if you’re still in love with her, why didn’t you act on your feelings when you first realized you had them? Well, I was in denial about my feelings for her for a long time. I had told myself the “she’s like a sister to me” excuse for the longest time, only for me to realize one day that I told myself that lie because I was afraid of facing the truth about how I really felt.

Once I finally realized how much of an idiot I was after mulling it over for several days, I finally mustered the courage to tell her about my feelings for her.

The day I planned to tell her, I was instead greeted with her holding hands with Liam while they mooned over how happy they were about finally being official.

I still have vivid memories of talking on the phone with her later that day as she told me how happy she was and how she’s never felt this way with anyone before. I also have vivid memories of my heart dropping to the pit of my stomach as the phone call continued.

Marley was the one who knew me best. I tried going on dates with other girls in hopes that my feelings would completely vanish once I found someone who would make me realize that they were the one for me and not Marley. I didn’t click with any of them. None of them had that something special that Marley had. She still managed to stand out in my mind.

"Y-yeah, I'm fine." Marley’s answered less confidently than usual.

I wanted to kiss her, show her how much I've missed her, show her how I'm crazy for her.  
The alarming look in Marley’s eyes indicated that I was invading her personal space. I awkwardly leaned away, considering the fact that our faces were uncomfortably close to each other.

Was I trying to kiss her without even knowing?

Maybe I shouldn't kiss Marley just yet. She was the more vulnerable one in this conversation. Her feelings were a priority over mine. She didn’t have to say anything for me to see that she was visibly hurt at the mention of Liam and needed someone to comfort her.

I patted her wrist, signaling for her to lay down with me again.

~~~  
(Marley’s POV)

"Mar..." Harry started.

This just went from comfortable to awkward, the slight breeze giving me chills. How do I tell him without disappearing into a puddle of tears like I did when it all happened two months ago?

"Mar, I'm here for you. You can still talk to me about anything. Whatever you’re uncomfortable sharing with me over the phone, you can tell me now and I promise nothing will leave this conversation, I swear on my-”

"We broke up."

I looked up to see Harry's shocked face. He was the first person from our high school that I’ve told, apart from my college friends who were there with me the day it happened.

I could tell Harry was in shock and trying to find the right words to say.

"I don’t understand. You always told me you guys were fine, and that you were making it work, despite the distance...:” Harry trailed off, his knitted eyebrows showing that he was still deep in thought.

"It wasn’t working out, Harry.” I interrupted Harry’s silence. "We’ve been on and off since we started college. We were dealing with so much bullshit and it all piled up to the point where we just had to end it.” I gave Harry as best of an explanation I could, choking back tears. 

It didn’t help that Harry looked so concerned for me to the point where he looked scared. I started to feel guilty for having Harry go through the pain I’ve had to go through.

"Come here," Harry said, pulling me in for a hug in an attempt to comfort me.

"No, Harry, I-"

"Mar, come here." Harry said more sternly, taking me into his arms again.

I don't know how long we stayed in our embrace, but it felt really good, the best I've felt all day. Maybe even the best I’ve felt in two months.

Harry always knew how to make things better. In junior year, I had decided to play in our school’s powderpuff game for homecoming week. Little did I know, I made the completely wrong decision, considering I was the least athletic person I knew. Within the first 5 minutes of the game, I sprained my ankle and spent the rest of the game on the bench.

I don’t know if Harry had especially good vision, but I guess he could tell how bummed I was and escaped from the bleachers to sit with me. Before the game even ended, we snuck out and went on a late night ice cream run.

I know that a broken heart was very different from a sprained ankle, but nonetheless, his compassion was just as sweet as the blueberry swirl ice cream from that day.

We pulled away from our embrace, but Harry’s hand fell to rest on my lower back.

"What made you guys finally end things? That is, if you don’t mind me asking…" Harry asked hesitantly, his thumb mindlessly rubbing circles on the fabric of my T-shirt.

I took a deep breath before replying.

"He cheated on me." I answered him, his hand coming to a complete stop.

"Why didn't you tell me?" I could hear the vulnerability in Harry's voice, and it almost felt like my heart was breaking all over again.

The last girl Harry dated ended up cheating on him, so I knew this would rouse something in him. It was almost like I had picked at a former wound of his.

Harry took my silence as my answer to his question and continued. “You could’ve talked to me. You know better than anyone else about the hell I went through when that happened to me.”

I felt so terrible, keeping secrets from Harry. He never took things lightly, especially when it came to things that made him emotional.

"I… I couldn't." I said in a hushed voice, the tears coming out like bullets now. Even just talking about it made it feel like it all happened only yesterday. 

"Okay, okay, it’s fine." Harry spoke softly after seeing how tense I was getting from his reaction. He pulled me closer to him again, stroking my hair.

I felt relieved that Harry didn’t ask any further questions about why I kept the last months of Liam and I’s relationship from him, because I knew I’d be unpacking emotions that went beyond heartbreak.

“Thank you for listening anyway, Haz. I haven’t really talked about this with anyone, so even just mentioning it brings back all the pain,” I said in a faint whisper, my tears landing on the fabric of his t-shirt.

"You deserve so much better than that,” I heard Harry’s hushed voice in my ear. “If I could take away all the hurt that you’ve been feeling up to this very moment, believe me, I would.”

Harry burrowed his head in the crook of my shoulder as I wrapped my arms around him a little bit tighter. 

“He’s a piece of shit. If I could, I’d go kick his ass for you right now.” Harry mumbled, but I knew he was trying his best to mask his anger at the whole situation.

"He's not even worth it," I assured him. 

"I know, but god, remember how he used to tower over the both of us?” Harry changed the subject, trying to lighten the mood. 

My tears were replaced with soft chuckles, thinking back to the days where Harry was only a few inches taller than me. Even when he did eventually hit his growth spurt, his height never seemed to intimidate me, and I essentially saw him as the gentle giant that was my go-to person for grabbing items from shelves that were a little too high for me to reach.

“I bet I could at least size up to him now, and if I had the chance to kick his ass, I’d probably do this," Harry said, standing up and hauling me over my shoulder as a demonstration.

We howled with laughter once again as Harry spun me around like I weighed nothing.

"Haz, put me down!!" I squealed as my view went upside down.

Harry playfully slammed me down on the trampoline, only for my body to bounce back. He got down and pinned me, gripping my wrists in his hands and forcing them to the side of my head.

"I meant gently!" I screamed at him, trying my best to get in his face and intimidate him.

"That's no fun!" Harry screamed back in my face, a smug grin from the successful outcome.

I tried to roll us over, but his dominating strength kept me pinned down as I frantically squirmed under his figure.

"Fine, I surrender." I gave in, unclenching my fists.

Harry leaned down and playfully rubbed his nose with mine, "Too bad, I was about to let you win.”

I responded by giving him a light smack on the cheek.

As our laughter died down, we both realized how close our faces were. I wanted to kiss him so bad. With the way his eyes were staring so intently into mine, I couldn’t help but think that he did too. 

We both started to lean in, but the sound of the screen door opening startled us both. 

I turned to see my mom, and I whined and rolled from below Harry, curling up into a ball of embarrassment.

My intuitive mother could tell that she had caught me in the middle of something. Thankfully, she stayed at the screen door and let me know that dinner would be ready soon, then went back into the house, but not before giving me an eyebrow raise of suspicion and a smile of sympathy towards Harry, which incited his vibrant laughter.

As Harry’s laughter died down, he turned to look at me, giving me a sigh.

"I need to get going, dinner's also gonna be ready soon at my place." he announced, looking down at his watch.

I gave an overexaggerated pout at Harry, even if I knew that we still had the rest of the weekend just for us and only us. 

"Do you wanna come over? I’m sure my mom would be excited to see that you’re also back in town." Harry asked with a chuckle.

I shook my head, "I have an exam next week, so I have to cram at least some studying this weekend. Plus, I’m still waiting for my dad to get home from work."

"That’s fine. I’m sure my mom will miss you though," Harry replied teasingly, nudging my shoulder. I scoffed and shoved him back.

Harry got down from the trampoline first, then reached up and swiftly carried me off the trampoline. 

He kept hold of my hand as we walked through the backyard, giving me a small smile.

Before I knew it, we were both out on the front porch. I could hear the jingling of Harry’s keys in his pocket. 

Harry turned to face me, taking both of my hands in his. He took a moment to look down and stare at our intertwined fingers. After taking a deep sigh, he finally began to speak.

"So, I had a really great time seeing you again and… look, I really had no idea about the whole Liam thing and I’m sorry if I set off any negative emotions or anything,” Harry paused to heave a sigh. 

“Haz, you’re fine,” I said, giving his hands a light squeeze of encouragement. 

“I’m just gonna say it. Mar, you are so beautiful and you mean a lot to me and I just- it’s uh, occurred to me that- I’m sorry, I don’t really know how to put this into words and I didn’t think I’d be telling you this now but I don’t know when the next time I’ll see you will be so-"

I bravely brought my hand to the side of his face, feeling the sharp edge of his jaw, which tensed at my sudden touch.

I knew it. I knew it all along.

"Don't talk like that, Harry." I whispered, and finally pulled him in for a kiss.

The rush was something I couldn't describe, but I was relieved to finally be free from the anticipation I had felt all night. I allowed myself to deepen the kiss, Harry bringing his hands around my waist to pull me closer to him. My hand moved from his jaw to the back of his neck, my other hand running his hands through the curls in his hair that I had fantasized about as early as 7th grade when I sat behind him in history class.

We were breathless when we pulled away. Harry's hands were still on my waist and mine fell to his chest.

"Mar…I-"

"Go."

Harry didn’t even make it past the bottom of my front steps when he looked back at me. A smile slowly appearing on his face, he walked back to me and gave me a kiss on the cheek. His lips lingered longer than normal, my smile growing larger than it already was as I silently prayed that this moment would never end.

"Goodnight," Harry whispered just on the corner of my mouth.

I watched as Harry left my side and went back into his Range Rover, driving away just like that. I waited until he turned the corner to go back inside.

It had been him. It had always been Harry, but I was scared that he didn’t feel the same. That’s why I dated Liam because at the time, he gave me the reciprocation that I never got from Harry.

Every fight, every rough patch, and every break that happened between Liam and I always ended up in me wanting to call Harry and tell him everything. He was still my best friend at the end of the day.

What stopped me was the fact that if Harry asked what was the reason behind every bump in the road on Liam and I’s path, I knew what my answer would’ve been, but I was scared to face the truth. I didn’t want to admit that part of the reason why our relationship didn’t work was because I never got the closure I needed from Harry.

I don’t know what will happen tomorrow, I don’t know what will happen after we both leave on Sunday, but at least for tonight I can sleep well tonight knowing I got the one thing I’ve needed for a very long time: closure

**Author's Note:**

> Author’s Note: hello my fellow thoughts its ya girl just doing her niche writing with my boy harry! super pleased with how this one turned out, i wrote this all the way back in 2014 and i decided to breathe new life into it. hope you guys love it as much as i enjoyed writing it and i hope you’re all staying safe and indoors! -ninut xo


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